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How Green is Our Campus?
Isaac Moening-Swanson ’15 works inside PLU’s Bike Co-op. (Photo: John Froschauer / PLU)
How Green is Our Campus?
PLU Named One of Nation’s 50 Greenest Universities
Pacific Lutheran University has been named one of the nation’s 50 greenest colleges and universities by BestColleges.com.
The list, released Feb. 17, ranks institutions that have distinguished themselves by launching the most impactful initiatives to reduce on-campus waste and energy consumption, promote alternative transportation, provide funding to student and faculty-led green proposals and take other measures to benefit the environment.
Among the PLU achievements cited in the rankings, BestColleges.com highlighted:
1. PLU is working to earn (at least) LEED Gold Certification for every building on campus.
2. PLU’s Dining & Culinary Services recently adopted a zero-waste policy using the Green Tray Program.
3. Students and faculty members who would rather not commute in their personal vehicles can take part in the schoolwide Bike Co-op.
“With talk of climate change all around us, the current generation of college students is more aware than ever of the need to care for our planet through sustainability initiatives,” BestColleges.com outreach coordinator Laura Daniels wrote in an email. “Our list gives these students another tool by which to evaluate their choices when it comes to choosing a school that addresses their concerns.”
The rankings were compiled by The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), established in 2005 to “help coordinate and strengthen campus sustainability efforts at regional and national levels, and to serve as the first North American professional association for those interested in advancing campus sustainability.” The AASHE compiled its rankings using the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a voluntary system that allows colleges and universities to report trends and track sustainability efforts.
The BestColleges.org list names the 50 U.S. colleges and universities that earned the highest STARS ratings.